Where did the English Stephen family come from? What is the English Stephen family crest and coat of arms? When did the Stephen family first arrive in the United States? Where did the various branches of the family go? What is the Stephen family history?

Stephen is a name that came to England in the 11th century wave of migration that was set off by the Norman Conquest of 1066. Stephen comes from the ancient personal name Stephen, meaning crown, wreath, or garland.

Before the last few hundred years the English language had no fixed system of spelling rules. For that reason, spelling variations occurred commonly in Anglo Norman surnames. Over the years, many variations of the name Stephen were recorded, including Stephens, Stevens, Stephen, Steven, Stiven and many more.

First found in Gloucestershire where they were descended from FitzStephen, a Breton knight who was conjecturally descended from Count Stephen of Brittany and accompanied William the Conqueror into England and fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. There was of course, King Stephen (circa 1097-1154,) king of England (1135-54); he was the son of Stephen, count of Blois and Chartres.

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Stephen research. Another 183 words(13 lines of text) covering the years 1086, 1805, 1589, 1660, 1628, 1653, 1603, 1679, 1645, 1660, 1683, 1656, 1659, 1647, 1718, 1629, 1669, 1667, 1669 and are included under the topic Early Stephen History in all our PDF Extended History products.

The unstable environment in England at this time caused numerous families to board ships and leave in search of opportunity and freedom from persecution abroad in places like Ireland, Australia, and particularly the New World. The voyage was extremely difficult, however, and only taken at great expense. The cramped conditions and unsanitary nature of the vessels caused many to arrive diseased and starving, not to mention destitute from the enormous cost. Still opportunity in the emerging nations of Canada and the United States was far greater than at home and many went on to make important contributions to the cultures of their adopted countries. An examination of many early immigration records reveals that people bearing the name Stephen arrived in North America very early:

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Our PDF Coat of Arms + Extended History product is the whole package all in one. With a full color Coat of Arms along with a very detailed History, full symbolism, bibliography and settlers listed by the centuries.

The Stephen Family Crest was acquired from the Houseofnames.com archives. The Stephen Family Crest was drawn according to heraldic standards based on published blazons. We generally include the oldest published family crest once associated with each surname.